Overall business confidence in Shenzhen’s digital environment is scored at 6.37 on a 10-point scale, placing it slightly above the average of the 45 cities in the survey and 18th from the top.

(Confidence is slightly lower than in the other three mainland China cities in the survey — Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.) Executives have concerns over gaps in the workforce and constraints on funding, but they are highly positive about the environment for digital innovation and entrepreneurship and for the development of new technologies.

As upbeat as they are about the support available for digital innovation, Shenzhen executives want more: a lack of access to a technology ecosystem is cited, along with limited funding for investment (each by 26% of respondents), as the toughest challenge their firms face in pursuing digital transformation initiatives. Executives give good marks to local universities for training people with digital skills, but there are significant gaps: 43%, for example, cite big data analytical skills as a major one. Businesses in Shenzhen make active use of the technology ecosystem that exists in the city, with 45% of respondents, for example, saying their firms turn to innovation labs for help with their digital initiatives. Venture capital also plays a larger role in funding companies’ digital transformation programmes here than in other cities: over six in 10 firms in the survey have tapped VC funds for this purpose in the past three years. More such funding will soon be available, as the Shenzhen government has launched a 10 billion yuan VC fund to support emerging technology industries.